


Dreamer's Quest

by ChaiDreamLatte



Series: Dreamer's Quests [1]
Category: NiGHTS into Dreams
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dreams, Gen, Swords & Sorcery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-11-23 18:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11408406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaiDreamLatte/pseuds/ChaiDreamLatte
Summary: Four Dreamers of the Dreamscape embark on a quest to rescue the leader of the Nightmare Rebellion: NiGHTS.  They will have to use their cunning, strength, and powers in order to save NiGHTS and all of Nightopia.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will be posting a new chapter every Wednesday, so keep tuned for new chapters.

Dreamer's Quest

Chapter 1

 

The Dreamgate Tavern was bustling with nightopians.  An old owl was washing the juice glasses when a blue hair boy who dawned heavy blue and green armor and a large sword sat right at the bar. He was immediately given his usual tomato juice as he sighed.  "Been looking for that jester lady for days.  Still no sign of her."

A pink haired mage with a red cloak and dark rimmed glasses dropped her books onto the bar as she sat down next to the armor cladded boy, "how do you know if she'd be a maiden?"

The fighter blushed as he looked at his tomato juice.  This girl was pretty, but not as pretty compared to the jester girl who asked him to save her before she was captured.  He dreams up the worst scenarios.

"Can I have a sparkling orange juice?" asked the mage.  The owl gave her a thin glass of orange juice and she sipped it as she looked at the fighter, "If you ought to know, I saw the jester as well.  From my findings, they're the leader of the rebels against Nightmare."

Ah, he knew about Nightmare.  The very creatures he's been fighting to bring peace to the dreamers.  This was probably why the jester called to him to save her: they were on a usual cause."

"Their name is NiGHTS," the mage managed to mention, "I need to prepare my spells, but would you like to join me on my search for NiGHTS?  We will need a healer and perhaps a stealthy sort.  Yet I think we could manage to find two others."

A girl walked into the tavern.  She had blonde hair and blue eyes.  She wore a white cape and a necklace with a teardrop on it; a symbol that was known for the Dream Drop Collectors.  If this young lass collected enough, she might have the power to tend to injuries if needed.

A boy with dirty blonde hair was wearing all black was standing next to her, "how many dream drops have you collected?"

"55," the girl, "I can heal the worst of the wounds, but I can't make visitors fall back to sleep."

The mage kind of cringed when she heard the Collector say, "visitor," it's a newfangled word used to reference the humans of this world.  Yet, this collector was small, but she knew her way around the dream world, and she had a lot of power.  The mage walked over to the girl and asked, "We're looking for the leader of the Nightmare rebellion who had been captured, would you like to help us?"

The boy next to her perked up, "NiGHTS?"

Both ladies looked over at the boy with full intent.  Was this boy part of the rebellion?  Not many dreamers were; but was he an exception? 

"I've smuggled real world items for his cause, for a price of course." The dark cladded boy explained, "I haven't had any orders from him in a while.  Did something happen?"

"I was meditating when I saw a vision of them," said the mage, "this fighter at the bar saw the same thing.  They seemed to be captured in a gazebo."

"NiGHTS is my top customer, if he's captured, I better help you save him," The boy took out a bunch of knives, "May not look like it, but I have a great amount of skills.  Very sneaky as well."

"Well, my name is Claris," said the mage.

"I'm Helen," said the Collector.

"Will Taylor," said the roguish type.

The blue hair fighter stepped over towards the three's direction, "and my name is Elliot, I will be your fighter."

"Great," said Claris, now we need to find out how to get to NiGHTS.

The birdy bartender began to speak, "there were legends of four great heroes who were Visitors of this dreamscape.  They come to this land whenever they sleep, and were fabled to join the rebellion against the nightmare forces."  A red light shined in each of the quester's hands.  "Ah, you are the fabled heroes after all.  Those are the Visitors with the Ideya of Courage.  Yet you are not yet perfect.  You must go through four Nightopias to find the other four Ideya.  First, you need to go to Splash Garden for the Ideya of Purity, then the Crystal Castle for the Ideya of Intelligence, then Delight City for the Ideya of Growth, lastly: Soft Museum for the Ideya of Hope.  Once you all become Perfect Dreamers, can you embark to Nightmare to defeat Wizeman, and save the leader of the Nightmare Rebellion." 

"Okay, so let's go to this Splash garden first," said Elliot, "Purity must be easy enough to get."

"My ideya of purity is black like my heart," said Will, "but as long as there aren't any bouncing opera singers, we are all good!"

The four began to walk to embark on their quest.

A figure in a red and black hooded cloak looked towards the four.  They gave some blue chips to the bartender then left as well.

***

NiGHTS was indeed captured by the great ruler of Nightmare: Wizeman.  If this were an alternate universe, they would be placed in the middle of the field.  Yet Wizeman was smarter than that.  If the visitors could fly, they would have an easier time getting to them.

"Hmph, making me the damsel in distressed, are you?" Asked the purple jester, "a bit cliché don't you think?"

There was no answer from the giant cloaked figure with a metallic head and six hands.  He knew that the heroes found each other, even with effort to make sure they'd never meet.  It was inconvenient with the Dreamgate Tavern existing. 

The figure in the red and black cloak appeared in front and Wizeman and bowed, "Master, the four heroes have met.  But don't worry, it is all part of the plan."

"All part of the plan?" NiGHTS snidely crossed their arms in a huffed manner, "what are you going to do, teach them about the power of friendship?"

"Even better, I will set an army of Kirckles on them, they won't even stand a chance!" The figure took down their hood to reveal that they were also a jester; only with red and black tassels.

NiGHTS became on sarcastic with their counterpart, "oh the humanity, The Great and Powerful Reala is going to set third rank nightmaren on the poor defenseless dreamers!"

Reala nodded their head, "and they will wake up, and forget about this quest."

"I don't know how Nightopia will ever survive," NiGHTS continued with the sarcasm.

"And then nightmare will rise as the primary territory of the dreamscape!" Reala, not getting NiGHTS' sarcasm clenched their fist with power, "and it will all belong to Wizeman!"


	2. Splash Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamers begin their quest at Splash Garden where they have a crabby surprise.

Dreamer’s Quest

Chapter 2

 

The environment was very sunny and beachy, with water bubbles in the air and nightopians traveling around happily.  Elliot looked around to see a magical gazebo, “this is where the lady was trapped in during my vision.”

Will investigate the place, “it’s for Nightmaren to store Ideya.  Us Visitors are stock full of them; at least; until the nightmaren take them away from us.”

None of the dreamers were aware of when or where they Ideya was stolen, but all they knew at that point was that they still had their Ideya of Courage.  That was how they could still fight and cast spells.  Heck, Will stirs a profit out of his Ideya by smuggling real world items into this world.  How he did it was a mystery to the other three. 

They began to hear footsteps…

“Um, guys?” Helen used her magic to make a shield around the Ideya palace, “We have company.”

There were crabs all around the shielded area, way too many to fight individually.  The good news was: they couldn’t make it around Helen’s bubble shield.  The bad news: the crabs were not going to crawl away.  Do they want these youth’s Ideya that much? 

They needed a plan.  Elliot told Helen, “Get Will out of the shield.”

Will, dropped his jaw, “What?”

“Get Will out of the shield,” Elliot emphasized, “he will sneak to the back of the pack and attack from there.”

“Aye aye sir,” Will saluted.  Will got to the edge of the shield, and Helen rejected Will from the bubble. 

“Now, the bubble is made of water, right?” Elliot asked Helen.

 Helen nodded her head.

“Get the rest of us out of the shield, but keep the shield up,” said Elliot.

Helen made a hole in the back of the shield, and the three stepped out, then Helen closed the empty shield, “What now?”

The crabs were getting closer to the shield.  Reactively, Helen opened the shield so the crabs won’t get to the visitors.  They must have been getting away from Will.

“Close the shield once they all get in,” said Elliot.

“You know, I can only hold it for so long,” said Helen, “we can’t just trap the crabs.”

Then Claris spoke up, “not unless I cast my ever so favorite spell.” She took out an index card which seems to have some words and dots on it.  She waited until the crabs were in the shield. She pulled out her staff and began to sing, “ _Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fighting to me, to me, to me.”_

Lightning came out of the staff and electrocuted the bubble to the point that the crabs were no longer crabs, but crabmeats. 

Everyone just stared at Claris, “did you just demolish a bunch of third rankers with Queen?”

Claris kind of laughed, “kind of an aspiring singer in the real world. A few years of being lucid and starting to sing, it came rather naturally to me.  Yet I keep the songs in these cards whenever I think of a spell.  It’s difficult when I think of a spell in the real world and try to remember it when dreaming.”

The Ideya palace began to light up.  They looked into it but they seemed to teleport to a completely different place. 

They ended up in a room that has a long table.  They began to hear a bounce… bounce… bounce…

“Chumbuckets, is it her?” Elliot began to sweat.

“Relax, it’s a ball or something,” Will said, “we just need to get to the end, and we’ll find our Ideya.”

“Not with her around,” Elliot pointed to a pink and blue ball like rabbit woman who bounced her way towards them. 

Helen made another shield which made her ricochet towards a hole in the wall.

They ran as fast as they could towards the end of the room, but the lady bounced towards them again.  Will threw a knife at her, she bounces back, but not as much as before. “We need Helen again,” Will said, “but maybe Claris has a spell to make us move around a bit?”

Claris looked through her cards, and found one, “thought this would never get a use.” She began to belt out, “ _It’s time to try defying gravity, I think I’ll try defying gravity, and you can’t pull me down_.”

The shield around the four began to float.  Elliot took out his sword and swung it towards the ball lady, “that’s for waking me up, Puffy!”

The ball lady, allegedly named Puffy laughed, “Oh, it isn’t like your friends are going to help you this time!”

Elliot swung his sword again, and the shield bounced puffy through a wall, where some fire was.  Then four white spears appeared in front of them. 

“I guess your Ideya isn’t black like your soul after all,” Helen quaffed at Will.

“No, but it’s slightly darker than yours,” Will stuck his tongue out. 

Elliot and Claris laughed at the younger folk. 

***

“Wait, so the heroes got ALL of our Kirckles into a bubble then electrocuted ALL of them with one spell?” There was a sextuple facepalm happening with Wizeman at that moment because he was not impressed with Reala’s and Puffy’s report.

“Yes, then they used that same bubble to make it float, and ricocheted me to a fireplace,” Puffy admitted, “these heroes might be of the younger varieties of lucid, but they are really smart.”

NiGHTS began to laugh, “with one lighting spell?  How did they even get the Kirckle in one spot?”

Reala glared at NiGHTS, “your reality smuggler chased them into the bubble.”

NiGHTS laughed even more, “I knew that football game of his would come to use.”

“Silence,” Wizeman yelled, “So the next location is The Crystal Castle?”

Reala confirmed, “yes, it is.”

“We need to show these kids they are not as smart as they seem.  Get deep into their psyche and find if they are troubled in life.  This will reflect upon their fragile hearts.”

“Will do Master,” Reala bowed.

NiGHTS wasn’t so sure if these heroes would be successful.  NiGHTS had heard that Will at least has some issues with his traveling father.  The other three might have some personal problems as well.  Ah well, NiGHTS could only hope to be rescued so they could save the dreamscape. 


	3. Crystal Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamers have to go through a glass labyrinth in order to get their next ideya. Yet Reala has a plan up their sleeve to bring up their current traumas to stop them on their feet.

Dreamer’s Quest

Chapter 3

 

With the party’s victory, they went to the Dreamgate Tavern to rest up with root beer and ginger beer.  Helen, Will, and Elliot sat at an unclaimed table, as Claris asked for some root beers for the party.

Owl dropped his jaw, “you’re still asleep?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Claris asked, “We defeated the kirckles and the boss.  It took us some figuring out, but we managed.”

Owl drained out four pints of root beer from the tap, “it’s on the house.  Your efforts will benefit Nightopia.”

“Yeah, the Crystal Castle will be a cinch if this’ll be the same.”

Owl sighed and shook his head, “just remember: this is less so Final Fantasy, and more Tower of Duraga.”

“Tower of whataga?” Claris asked.

“You four have to figure out how to get to the boss, and it isn’t exclusively defeating enemies.  There’s always something you have to do in order to get to the end.” Owl had to explain.  He handed the root beers to Claris, “just take this in mind.”

Claris came to her party with the root beers, and handed it to them.  “So, we may need to figure out our strategy.  The hoot behind the bar told me that it isn’t only about beating up enemies.”

Will began to strategize; “Well, how about we get a guide for this game and….” Then he realized that they were dreaming, and this was not a video game.

“Well, okay, what are the other Nightopias we have to go to in order to get our Ideya?”

“Well, the Crystal palace is next,” Helen said, “I’ve been here, Dream Drops Galore.  Yet it’s a hall or mirrors, and quite a labyrinth.”

“So, it’s a weaving line?” Elliot asked.

Claris elbowed Elliot from his snide comment, “I think you mean a maze.”

“Anyways,” said Will, “Will we have to go through this mirror maze to get to the next boss?”

“I think so,” said Helen.  She took out a piece of paper from her pouch, it revealed a map.  Obviously, she made this map for her Dream Drops.  She pointed to an X, “I tended to avoid this area, because I found myself in Nightmare where a Witch with her cats reside.  She wanted me to play a tilting game, and I woke up because I hated that sort of game.”

“But you have us,” Will gave some encouraging words, “and we can figure out that game to get our Ideya.”

***

The quartet of heroes went into the crystal castle, and found the maze.  They all looked into the mirrors to see themselves. 

“So, you’re into Sports?” Elliot asked Will, “I play basketball with my friends at the park… at least I used to.”

“I’m part of a football team,” Will answered, “got a lot of help from his dad… at least I used to.”

Claris decided to change the subject, they seemed to be getting sad about their inability to play their favorite games, “so, you guys into Lady Gaga?”

Helen began to laugh, then covered her mouth.  From the songs that Claris has used for casting her spells so far, they were diverse in genre.  So obviously ~she’d be into Lady Gaga.  Yet neither of the boys were the type to like a lady popstar like her.”

“I liked her meat dress,” Will began to laugh, then thought a bit, “at least any of her fashions.  Might as well look unique if you’re going to have a look.”

Elliot rolled his eyes, “she’s going to lose popularity in a few years.  Heck, not many people think about her now.”

“I would probably be the same way,” Claris laughed back, “I want to be a pop star one day, like Lady Gaga.” Then she paused for a second and her eyes went black, “at least… if I won’t run away from auditions.”

Claris paused for a very long time. 

Elliot waved his hand in front of Claris, “Claris?  What’s up?”

“I can’t be the next Lady Gaga if I keep on running away, might as well stop singing.”

“Snap out of it!” Will screamed, “We need you to sing to cast spells!”

Claris shook her head, “oh, sorry, just have some problems outside of here.  I’ll get over it.  Need to make my mom and dad proud after all.”

Then it ended up that both Helen and Will began to break out. “Make our parent proud…”

“I’ve been abandoning mom… ‘Sorry Mom’… We’re going to flunk at the concert for sure…”

“My dad abandoned me before the finals,” Will began to slowly tell them, “We can’t win without my practice.”

Claris knew this was caused by some higher ranked nightmaren.  She looked through her cards, and found the card she was looking for, she began to sing, “ _hey you, out there on the road, always doing what you’re told, can you help me?”_

Laughter came from beyond the mirrors.  A red and black jester like nightmaren flew through the mirror, “good job girl, would have worked on any lower rank nightamren, but that’s too bad I’m first ranked.”

Then Claris had a better idea.  She never tried these lyrics, but they’re from the same song, maybe she can get her companions back and help. She sang to her companions: _“Hey you, out there in the cold. Getting lonely, getting old, can you feel me?”_

Suddenly, everyone else snapped out of their trance.  Will looked right at the red and black jester, “Reala! Somehow I knew you’d get involved.”  Will threw some blue chips underneath the first ranker.

Reala smirked.  He had misses.  At least, they thought he had… when the blue chips exploded.

They all ran as Helen navigated with her map.  They go to the room with the Witch and her cats. She had a board underneath her with holes and the cats seemed to be rolling around.  Helen rolled her eyes at the notion.

“Oh, heck yeah!” Will yelled “I’m rocking at this game!”  Will began to get the cats into the holes, when suddenly, with Witch threw a blast of light at Will.

Elliot took out his sword, and hit the light with it.  The light bounced back to the Witch and she toppled over.

Will got the last cat in the hole. They cheered as they gathered their blue Ideya of Intelligence.

Yet there was a lot to bring up about their personal lives.  They nodded.  An alarm went off, and they all woke up. At least two in one night was not that bad. 

***

NiGHTS was still in the Ideya Palace as Reala had a smoky face from the previous bombs approached the purple maren. “Okay, you know Will, right?”

NiGHTS was filing their nails as they crossed their legs, “I have an approximate knowledge of many dreamers.  I know a Will, but Dreamers tend to have the same names due to a larger population.”

Reala grabbed the neck of NiGHTS’ cuff, “don’t mess with me.  The smuggler that they deal with.”

“Oh! That Will!” NiGHTS smiled, “he can bring things from the Waking World to the Dreamscape.  Nothing too much.”

Reala growled right at NiGHTS, “How was he able to make bombs out of blue chips?”

NiGHTS laughed even more, “the boy seriously did that?  Hilarious!”

Reala rolled their eyes.  They need a new plan so they won’t complete Delight City.  At least, if they’re lucky enough to do so.


	4. Delight City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the next Ideya, the dreamers need to acquire currency. There was no way they can get that sort of blue chips that fast... unless if they cheat...

Dreamer’s Quest

Chapter 4

 

Claris went to sleep early to do some research at the Dreamgate Tavern’s library.  She found out that Delight City was a casino, and that there is a special treat for those who make it to 1000 blue chips.  Most theorize an extra life. 

Claris theorized their Ideya of Growth.

Helen seemed to also go to sleep early, as she ran through the door of the Dreamgate tavern and right to Claris. “Found anything.”

“Quite a lot,” said Claris, “I think I know what the challenge is for Delight City. We need to win 1000 blue chips.”

Helen frowned, “can’t we just get Will to just give the 1000 blue chips?  He has more than enough from his smuggling efforts.”

Claris laughed, “So I heard you are performing at the Twin Seeds Clocktower, that’s more than I ever have done.”

“Yeah, the audition went very well, but I need to practice more.  I practiced nicely by myself today, since mum was busy.  Yet we haven’t had to time to do it together.  That’s what’s getting me worried.”

“But you’re, like, twelve, what could you possibly do that makes you too busy.”

Helen looked down, “not flaking on my friends when they invite me to hang out.”

Claris frowned, “and it’s okay to flake for a performance?  I’ve done that a few times even when I practice for auditions.”

“Wait, so you practice, but you run away?” Helen asked.

“Stage fright, what can I say?”

“But you’re such a good singer,” Helen gasped, “I heard you sing out your spells.  Not only do the spells work well, but you sound amazing.”

“I guess I need to channel my courage.”

Elliot entered the tavern.  He did a few sword tricks then approached the ladies, “ladies,” he flipped his blue hair back, “any more beating of nightmaren today?”

“No, freaking gambling,” Helen stuck out her tongue, “we can’t even use the money that we have in the Dreamscape.”

That was when Will walked into the tavern, “let’s do some gambling!”

***

Granted, 1000 blue chips were a lot to win.  So, Claris had a plan.  There were third rank nightmaren there gambling for Ideya, trying to impress Wizeman.  Claris’ last attempt at her spell didn’t work; but maybe it’ll work on third rankers. 

They entered the Nightopia, then went over to the casino part of the place.  “Hey, Will, can you round up the nightmaren here like you did at Splash Garden?”

Will made a thumb up.  He ran all over the casino plaza with his dagger having all the third rank nightmaren run away from him, but as they run, they ran into a group.  He ran to the entrance of the plaza, then Helen made a shield around the army of third rank nightmaren.

Claris took out her staff, and began to sing, _“hey you, out there on the road, always doing what you’re told, can you help me?”_

The nightmaren all faced Claris and bowled their heads.  Claris kind of felt like Wizeman for a second, but knew that the enchantment was temporary.  “So, we need 1000 blue chips, and you will gamble your ways together to get these chips.”

Helen cast an additional spell on the nightmaren.  A bunch of numbers flew around the group then faded into them.  “This spell with help their probability to winning us chips.” Then Helen let go of the shield.  They decided to get some orange soda at the bar at the casino; they heard it’s the best in the Dreamscape.

They went back to find that the nightmaren made well over 1000 blue chips.  They saw a center where there were prizes.  Four of them were green spheres, The Ideya of Growth.  They pointed to the Ideya, but the dog like creature growled at them, “How did you get enough chips that quickly?”

The group bit their lips.  They cheated at this challenge, didn’t they?  This was a lot easier than the last two Nightopias.  Almost too easy.

Another dog went over to the counter and snarled at them, “they’re cheaters, aren’t they?  We better send them to nightmare and teach them a lesson.”

The dogs grabbed two of the dreamers each by the mouth and sent them to Nightmare.  They were in a cage, where it was just them and the dogs. Elliot took out his sword, and lurched right at the dogs, to only be bitten.

Elliot knelt and looked at Helen.  She used a spell to make Elliot better, then made a shield once the two dogs tried to attack the four again.

Claris used her staff and sang, _“Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe, you don’t know you’re beautiful.”_ That was when Claris realized that they were chained up… to a ball. “The ball over there, it’s the weakness!”

“One Direction, seriously?” Elliot asked as he lurched at ball and hit it with his sword.  It hurt the dogs once. Elliot tired for another blow, but then a third dog appeared and snapped at Elliot.

Elliot dodged just on time, he ran back, “Will, this is your sort of thing.”

Will threw some blue-chip bombs at the dogs so they get distracted. Will ran around them, then snapped his dagger at the ball before the third dog could appear.  The dogs winced, but not enough to get them down.

“It’s a three-hit sort of thing.” Claris observed.

“I doubt they’ll fall for the same trick twice, they’re smart,” Will said, “Can we get a distraction?”

Helen clapped her hands and mumbled a few words, “A-Life system, you are great and you are wise.  Give me your power and I shall give victory.”

A portal came open, and a giant swarm of Nightopians fell to Nightmare.  The dogs were looking all over the place at the swarm. 

Elliot and Will simultaneously smashed the ball into pieces, and defeated the dogs. The green Ideyas appeared and the four took their Ideya.  They were only one away from gaining the ability to rescue the princes- rebel leade- source of inco- NiGHTS.

***

Wizeman was not happy.  Reala bowed down at Wizeman knowing that he will not be in a good mood.

“You didn’t do anything?  We were at least lucky Cerberus was around, or else we might have been able to defeat them!”

“Master, it’s 1000 blue chips.  It was impossible for four heroes to acquire at a casino.”

“They have magic in the dreamscape, of course they’ll manipulate the third rankers into helping them!  The pink haired one even tried that same spell on ~you before!” Wizeman clenched his six fists, “I guess we will need extra help!”

NiGHTS laughed, “guess you aren’t going to be the only first ranker on the mission.  Did Wizey have to make another pair so he’ll win?”

“No, this is a very competent second rank nightmaren.  Unlike certain first rankers I know!” Wizeman glared at Reala, “he might be in the chaotic evil side of things, but this is what we need to win!”

Another jester materialized next to Reala and bowed at Wizeman.  They were orange with a white cape, and said, “Howdy doody your Wizeness!  Heard you’re having troubles with some heroes.  They are actually competent!”

“Jackle…” Reala mumbled.

Jackle shot out a straight manic laugh, “the one and only.  Don’t worry Reala, I know the Wizard; and her weakness.  She is the most powerful one of the group after all.”

NiGHTS knew Jackle being around was a mixed blessing.  Jackle may know Claris’ weakness, but Claris knew Jackle’s weakness.  Most of all: Claris had friend and Jackle always worked alone.  


	5. Soft Museum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventurers are going to the Soft Museum for their final Ideya, but Jackle is there to exploit Claris' weakness.

Dreamer’s Quest

Chapter 5

 

A celebratory ginger beer was in order; for completing the fourth Ideya. They had one more to go before they could save NiGHTS.  Yet first: a drink at Dreamgate Tavern.  They conversed for a while, until it got to their waking selves.

“Wait, you come from Twin Seeds too?” Elliot asked Will, “I would not have expected that.”

“Are we all from the same city?” Helen suddenly called out, “that means we could all meet!  I’m doing a performance at The Twin Seeds Tower.”

“Wish I could,” Claris mumbled. 

“So, you think we could all meet after the performance?” Elliot asked, “I’ve already arranged to meet with some of my friends.”

Will kind of looked down, “I have finals at the same time unfortunately.” He sighed, “if we win this, we get it all.”

“For football?” Elliot asked, “I understand, the boys and I are trying to take down the bullies beforehand.”

“I wish you both luck with your games,” Helen said, “but maybe we could talk about the next place.”

That was when Owl appeared at the middle of the table, “Ah yes, Soft Museum, a serenade of serialism!  This area is fleeting with nightmaren right now, but be wary: this isn’t the same challenge as Splash Garden.”

“Then what is it?” Claris asked, “I haven’t done any research yet, so I don’t even know.”

Owl sighed with disappointment, “I myself have done research, and I cannot find a way to get the Ideya of Hope.”

“Well, I hope we’ll find out once we get there,” said Elliot, “it’s almost morning, and we need to save a princess.”

“Oh, so NiGHTS is a princess?” Claris teased.  She couldn’t conceive the notion that NiGHTS was a princess; unless if they were like Princess Leia or Princess Sally.  Yet she slammed her empty glass on the table and stood up.  They can figure it out when they get there.

***

Soft Museum was sort of a bouncy museum; which was significantly better than a bouncy castle.  They bounced their way around the mirrored halls.  There were a lot of nightmaren, but it was no issue for Elliot to take lead and swing his sword around.  At least until they get further and further, then Will had to help a lot.  Then they became overflowing with nightmaren.  So, Claris had to sing her way through spells to defeat them. 

That was until they saw a door in which a lot of nightmaren are coming out.  They stepped in front of the door to try to shut it, but it was too heavy for the four of them. 

Claris took out her notecards, and found a spell.  She began to sing from Panic at the Disco, _“Haven't you ever heard of closing a goddamn door?”_ The door did indeed close.  Yet there was still a sea of Nightmaren; but they weren’t attacking. 

Helen seemed to notice this lack of hostility and she stopped Elliot and Will, “wait they’re looking at us.”

They looked down to see that they’re on a stage. The Nightmaren seemed to be looked at them expecting something. 

“Oh heck,” Will looked at a set of instruments.  A drum set, an acoustic guitar, and a violin.  “I know how to play the drums.”

“I play the guitar,” said Elliot.

“And I’m very proficient in the violin,” said Helen.

They all looked at Clairs.  There wasn’t an instrument for her; but that was because she was the instrument.

“Aw, come on!” Claris cried out. She felt like conspiring that someone knew her weakness; but that was what nightmaren do: know dreamers’ fears.  She was surprised that it took that long for any to implement this to this quest.  This is practically chaotic evil. 

“What song should we play?” Elliot asked.

“How about the one Clairs tried to audition for?” Helen suggested, “It’s fresh in her mind.”

“Dreams Dreams?” Claris asked if the others knew the song. All three nodded their heads.

Will began to play a beat to get things started.

Elliot strummed the tune of the song as Helen backed up some alternate tunes. Claris took a deep breath.  She spotted her cue in the accompaniment, but missed it as she began to breathe louder.

“Claris, you okay?” Elliot asked, “we’ve gotten this far, we can get to NiGHTS soon!”

“They had to use ~my fears, and use ~my weaknesses.  You guys are scared too!  Why me?” Helen began to ramble.

“It doesn’t matter,” Helen said, “just sing as if no one’s watching.”

Claris took a deep breath.  Will started over with his beat, and the string played the tune.  Claris began to sing, “In a dream I can see; you are not far away.  Anytime anyplace, I can see your face.  You are that special one, I have been waiting for.  And I hope you find someone like me!”

The nightmaren bounced up and down with excitement, yet Claris paid no attention, “In my dreams, I can see you call on me, in the night; everything’s so sweet.  In your eyes, I feel; there’s so much inside.”

Then Elliot, Will, and Helen sang, “In the night, dream delight, I want to see you standing there.  In the night, dream delight.  I found someone who really cares!  In the night, dream delight, I want to see you smile again.  In the night, dream delight, you’re the one I’ve waited for!”

The doors suddenly opened.  The nightmaren cheered, and the dreamers bowed as they stepped into the door.  They hoped to find their ideya in there…

Only to find a psychotic playroom of mudertime. 

“Boaty Mcboatface,” Claris cursed, “I knew Jackle had to be behind this.”

The other looked at Claris with full fear in their blue eyes, “Jackle?”

Jackle had their infamy as a nightmaren.  Wizman didn’t use them often, but only on the most powerful of dreamers.  Was Claris that powerful to have met Jackle before?  Were the rest of them that powerful to even meet the crazy nightmaren. A card swept past Will, as the card cut his face.

Helen healed the scratch, as she set off a ball of light to search for where the cards were coming from.  They found an orange jester like nightmaren with a cape.  They laughed manically.

Claris rolled her eyes, “You knew my weakness.”

“Yeah?  Too bad you got over it.  Now you have to face me!” Jackle noted, “A fate worse than singing in front of a crowd.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to defeat you in front of my friends,” A string a sarcasm came from Claris’ mouth.  She began to sing, _“it’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes.”_

Suddenly, Jackle’s cape flew away.  Jackle began to panic as they flew towards the cape.

Claris suddenly sang another spell, this time from Lady Gaga; _“Sorry, I cannot hear you I'm kind of busy.”_ This stopped Jackle from moving.

Elliot lunged at Jackle as Will threw some blue-chip bombs in the air.  Elliot slashed the bombs in the air so they flew towards the nightmaren and went off on Jackle.  Jackle soon exploded from being defeated.

“Aw, guys, you don’t have to help,” Claris laughed.

The three other dreamers looked at Claris mercilessly.

Claris blushed. 

“How powerful are you?” Elliot asked, “how long were you lucid?”

Claris curled her ponytail with her finger, “as long as I can remember?  I honestly didn’t know that people couldn’t control themselves in their dreams until I was 11.”

“Darn, and I started being lucid at 11,” said Will, “you must be mega powerful.”

Their hopes were true, as their yellow Ideya of Hope showed up and they took them. 

***

At the Nightmare territory, NiGHTS saw Jackle with a blackened hat from the blue-chip bombs, “The mage memorized how to beat me.”

NiGHTS began to laugh in their Ideya Palace, “or you didn’t expect the blue-chip bombs from Will there?”

Jackle laughed, “that’s okay, they won’t be able to win against Wizema.”

Wizeman, who was present, massaged his eyebrows, “It has to take me to defeat four measly dreamers.  My crew is completely useless.”

NiGHTS began to speak up, “Hey, they tried the best as they could!”

Jackle looked over at NiGHTS, “are you standing up for me?”

“I mean, this was why I rebelled.” NiGHTS crossed their arms, “That, and Nightmare is completely drab being all samey; unlike the ever changing nightopia. Wizeman, if you don’t want any more rebellion; treat your crew better!”

“Then will you come back?” Wizeman asked.

NiGHTS pulled the bottom of their eye and stuck out their tongue, “In your dreams.”

“Well, you’re still staying in the Ideya palace, and I will defeat the dreamers.  Time to play with these brats’ heads and break some rules.”  

“Oh, the neutral evil is becoming chaotic evil,” Jackle laughed, “welcome to the club.”


	6. Wizeman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamers go to defeat Wizeman, only to wake up at the first hit... or did they?

Dreamer’s Quest

Chapter 6

 

The next night, everyone met for the final battle.  Yet… they didn’t know where to go.  Owl gave them the previous locations, but when they asked, Owl had no clue where NiGHTS was in parameters to the dreamscape.

So, they all went outside to find signs of NiGHTS or even Nightmare.  That was when they saw a staircase that they’ve never seen before.  The four simultaneously decide to go up the staircase when they ended up to their doom.

They all saw a giant cloaked figure with a metallic head and six metallic hands with eyes on the hands.  Everyone went to their stance to start fighting, when a hand smashed the four.

“For your insolence against Nightmare, you are all banned from the Dreamscape…”

…

***

…

The sun was out, and Will woke up still feeling rather drowsy.  The alarm went off, and Will turned it off.  He went downstairs for breakfast, and poured some cereal into a bowl.  He grabbed some milk from the fridge and poured some into the bowl.  He began to eat his cereal when his stepmother came into the kitchen with a box.

Will’s stepmother, Katrina; Kat for short; was a younger woman that Will’s dad met in one of his many business trips.  She relocated her job and they got married.  Yet things were mostly just Will and Kat in the house.  Kat was kind, but can be fierce when Will does anything bad.  Like in the point when she was suspicious of, “these boxes of snapcrackers.” She dropped an Amazon Prime box right onto the kitchen table.

Snapcrackers were little toys that one threw on the ground and they sizzle and pop.  Will very knew well what these snapcrackers were for: selling them for the Nightmare Rebellion; as well as for making his blue-chip bombs.  Snapcrackers were safe in the waking world; but had greater damage in the Dreamscape. The only issue came about was explaining it to Kat.

“I’ve been giving them to my fellow football players,” Will explained, “It’s pretty fun to set them around the field and having them pop when the ball rolls under them.”

“So, you’re not doing anything dangerous with them?” Kat asked, “like making bombs?”

That was a rather direct way of interrogating him.

That was when Will saw a blue haired teenager in his house who seemed extremely familiar.

…

***

…

Claris got up crying.  She wouldn’t be able to go to the Dreamscape anymore, she won’t be singing at the Twin Seeds tower, and she failed to rescue NiGHTS.  Yet there was one thing to get excited about: meeting up with Helen and Elliot.  She wasn’t sure if the other would even meet up after their failure; but she felt a real connection with them.

Claris got out of bed as she picked up a tissue to dab her eyes.  She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she finished, she spat out the toothpaste, and opened the vanity mirror to place the toothbrush and paste into their spots.  When she closed it: she saw a blonde hair girl in his pajamas that she never met before… at least, not in this world.

“Did you know that the girl who got the part for Dreams Dreams quit?” Helen asked, “they’re holding auditions this morning.  You should give it a try when you wake up.”

Claris blinked a few times to realize that this was the actual Helen.  She sang to herself, _“Hey you, out there in the cold. Getting lonely, getting old, can you feel me?”_ She was lucid again.  Claris went out of the bathroom to see outside that everything was a bunch of floating land.  She looked at Helen, “how did you know this was still a dream?”

“I used a shield on Elliot and me; I couldn’t shield everyone so quickly so I helped the nearest person.  We decided to split up and find Will and you. 

Claris put on her school uniform of an orange sweater, red shorts, and a pink undershirt.  She handed a set of clothing to Helen which she had never seen before. It was a white shirt, blue skirt, black leggings, and pink jacket.  They placed them on their bodies so they looked somewhat decent.  Claris gave Helen a hair tie and they both put their long hairs into ponytails.  

Elliot and Will ran over to Claris’ home, “weknowwhereNiGHTSisbutwedon’tknowhowtogettherebecasuewecan’tfly.”

Claris blinked her eyes, “what, what, what now?”

“Can you still do spells?” Elliot asked as he pointed to the Twin Seeds tower, “We need to be able to fly there.  We found NiGHTS in the center of the tower.”

Claris pointed to everyone and began to sing, _“I think I’ll try defying gravity.”_ Everyone began to float.  They had a floating shield before when they fought Puffy, but never flying on their own like some sort of Nightmaren. Unlike some alternate universes; they never flown on their own before.

Claris began to fly towards the tower, “We have a limited amount of time.”  Claris pointed to some floating rings and blue chips, “if we fly through these, we can boost ourselves to go faster.”

The four began to fly towards the tower, when they saw a purple jester banging on the glass of their entrapment. 

Will took some blue-chip bombs out from his giant pockets and threw them at the entrapment.  The glass blew up, and the four went inside.

Will nodded to NiGHTS, “good to see you again.”

NiGHTS nodded back, “good to see you again as well.  Glad you’ve gathered a good crew to rescue me.”

“Oh, no, that was Elliot,” Claris pointed to the blue haired fighter, “he did most of the organizing.”

“I saw a vision of your capture,” Elliot explained to the Nightmaren, “I just gathered information and this party showed up at the Dreamgate tavern.”

“Well, glad you showed up.” NiGHTS made a fist and punched upwards, “Now we can defeat Wizeman.”

Everyone hesitated.  Defeating the king of the nightmaren was going to be tough.  Yet: they had to complete this quest.  This time: they had help.

NiGHTS took out both of their hands, “now we need to join in a circle so we can dualize.”

Everyone did so, and they suddenly felt like they were one entity.

They saw a reflection, and saw that they were all NiGHTS.  Yet they had a sword, a dreamdrop collector necklace, an item belt, and some note cards. They all have the powers of themselves, and of NiGHTS.

They saw the cloaked figure that they saw before try to trick them into thinking they were awake.  They took out their sword, and place the blue-chip bombs on the weapon. 

They flew towards Wizeman, when tornados flew around them.  They sang, _“Somewhere, over the rainbow.”_ Then the tornados died down.  They made a shield around themselves and hit Wizeman with the sword. 

This damaged Wizeman a lot.  More than anyone expected.

Wizeman got angry, then began to throw ice at NiGHTS. NiGHTS still had the shield up to protect themselves from the attack; so, no damage was done.  Yet NiGHTS dodged the rest of them with Will’s skills, and got close enough to Wizeman to swing another hit at the Nightmare king. 

Wizeman took the hit, then began to threw meteors at them.  NiGHTS tried to dodge them, but took a hit.  So, NiGHTS healed themselves, and realized maybe another skill should be used.  NiGHTS shielded a meteor, then sang, _“I think I’ll try defying gravity,”_ then used the sword to smash the shielded meteor to bounce it around the other meteors to destroy them. 

Wizeman stared aimlessly at that strategy. 

NiGHTS pointed their sword at Wizeman and sang their most powerful spell, _“Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame.  You give love a bad name.”_

“W-w-wha?” Wizeman, the great and powerful; began to swivel down, “I will assure you, I will be back!  As long as there’s darkness in Dreamer’s hearts, I will exist.”

“Sure, it will, bud,” NiGHTS winked.

NiGHTS separated from the four, and they cheered.  Reala and Jackle came over to the party.

“Well, well, guess we have no one to serve,” said Reala, “what now?”

“You’ll be free to do whatever you want,” NiGHTS exclaimed, “I’m going to keep inspiring children to accomplish their dreams.”

“Well, that’s a load of cheese,” Reala cracked a smile, “I think I’ll find a way though.”

“I’ll try to become more powerful than the Grand Wizard Claris,” Jackle expressed, then pointed to Claris “then I’ll defeat you!”

“Sure, you will,” Claris stuck out her tongue, “not if I keep defeating you first.  My weaknesses aren’t there anymore.”

Jackle huffed and turned their back to Claris.

“And I had mentioned that there are going to be emergency auditions for the Twin Seeds Musical today?” Helen asked.

“I’ll give it a shot,” said Claris, “And I promise, I won’t run away.”

Elliot gave Will a high five, “good luck at the football finals. We can meet at the tower after.  We’ll wait.”

Will smiled, “That would be great!  And I wish you well getting those bullies.  No one has a right to take over public space.”

Everyone hugged, then woke up.

 


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamers finally meet in the waking world.

Dreamer’s Quest

Epilogue

 

Claris swirled around in her blue dress in the backstage.  She was glad that she got the part; especially since she knew the song by heart and sang amazingly.  The director said that he would have chosen originally if she didn’t run away the first time.  She was about to perform her piece when she felt a poke on her shoulder, and saw a blonde-haired girl in a pink dress.  Claris’ cue was up, so she couldn’t say anything. Claris had to get up on the stage and sing. 

When she did get on stage; she began to sing.  Suddenly, she heard a slam of the door of the back of the theatre.  She continued singing when she saw a figure in the audience running to the stage yelling, “Claris!”

The lights were too bright to see him until he got to the foot of the stage.  She could recognize that blue hair anywhere: it was Elliot.  She sang the last part of the song, “You're the one I've waited for.” She winked at Elliot as she left for stage left, yet she stayed by the end because she noticed Helen and her mother coming onto the stage. She heard rampant clapping as she left the stage.

Helen played beautifully.  Claris hardly knew why Helen was so scared she lacked practice: it seemed like she was practicing like crazy.  The song was inspirational and had a nice accompaniment between Helen and her mother.  The audience clapped even more; two wonderful performances in a row.

Helen approached Claris, “Didn’t know if I could follow you up that well,” she joked, “but I managed.”

“You did wonderful dear,” said Helen’s mum, then she looked at Claris, “Do you know her? She seems too old to be in your grade.”

“Oh, we met by chance at a restaurant; we venture from time to time,” Helen said without straight up lying. 

***

After the show, the girls met up with Elliot, then had fun at the festival.  They had crepes, rode rides, looked at crafts, played games, and took lots of selfies.  They wanted to savor the moment as much as they could. 

It was evening, and they sat at the Twin Seeds steps to wait for their final companion.  A random football went rolling in front of the steps, then a boy in a football uniform came over to the group. He grabbed the football when he saw the three sitting there and he waved to them, “my team won!” 

They laughed and went down the steps and had a group hug.  It began to rain as they began to cry with joy.

“Wizeman can’t really be dead, can he?” Will asked.

“If everyone just dreams positively we can only hope,” Elliot said, “it might be hard with all that’s going on, but NiGHTS had been working a good 21 years to keep us dreaming.”

Will wiped his tears away, “And thanks to us, NiGHTS can continue that effort without Wizeman.”

“Well, nightmaren are still about,” said Claris, “But we’ll work together to help with that effort.”

Everyone simultaneously gave a high five, which was awkward with four people. They were the youth, they were the powerful, they were the visitors, and they were the dreamers.  Nothing could stop them now!


End file.
